i was curious, how much horsepower will the stock suspension mounts on a 66 Nova 4 door hold? and what would i need to do to them to allow me to put 450 hp to the rear wheels without risking that i would blow the rear axle right off the car?

I don't think you would ever "blow the rear axle right off the car"... In order to do that the rear suspension would have to hook real hard and that will never happen with a stock non posi diff and street tires.
Go through your stock suspension and rebuild it with poly/graphite bushings and you'll be good to go.
Now, if you want that little ten bolt to live AND put down the power, you'll have to do some major reworking to put a bigger tire under the car and upgrade the diff to a posi and better gears.

do you think i could keep the original rear and have it hold 450 horses for a while? and what kind reworking would it need? if i do have to go for a different rear, what could i take it from that would fit my car's width?

Originally posted by hotrod66_57 do you think i could keep the original rear and have it hold 450 horses for a while? and what kind reworking would it need? if i do have to go for a different rear, what could i take it from that would fit my car's width?

The longevity of the rear end will depend on how you plan to drive the car... What trans are you using? The rear will probably live for a long time if you are running an auto with skinny tires. A 4 spd can shorten it's life "IF" you can get it to hook up. If this is an open (non-posi) differential and you aren't planning to run super sticky tires I doubt you will have a problem. Your biggest hurdle is going to be to get the car to hook up with the stock leaf spring suspension and stock open rear. The deuces little wheel wells will limit the size tire you can use anyway so, unless you are planning a major tearup to fit bigger tires, I can't see to much traction being a problem. This, in itself, will limit the amount of "shock" the rear end will see because all you will do is smoke up the small tires with your 450 horses...

the trany will be a manual unless there are not available within my means. as for tires, i'm going to try to either buy or have fabricated a set of shackles for the rear that will lift it up several inches, this way the top of the tires will be below the bottom of the fender allowing me to run 10 inch wide tires, at the strip where bumps aren't an issue. the only thing i have to watch is how much the back will drop off the line and make sure the tires still clear. the back suspension will not be bone stock as i plan on adding trac. bars. if after this it still sounds like the stock rear will do can anyone tell me where to get a good posi trac system for a fair price? if not will i still be able to get 12's without the posi trac?

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